The Legend

Bryan wiped his hands on his apron. God how he hated the grease in this kitchen. Up until about a year ago, Bryan had been on a survey crew. With the economy taking a tank he was laid off and found this job as a short order cook. Not the most pleasant job, but it was money, so he took it. He couldn't wait until everything returned back to normal and he could get his old job back. He normally worked the morning shift, but the night cook needed the morning to go to a dentist appointment. Bryan had switched with him and dreaded the evening crowd. "Angie, pick-up" he yelled. Angie was the night waitress, and although she was kind of crude, he thought she was pretty and would be a real looker if she just took a little better care of herself. She was a five foot, five inch blonde who probably weighed 95 pounds soaking wet. She had a nice figure and always wore her waitress uniform a little short. He surmised it was to get better tips from the guys.

"Angie," he said "I'm going out back for a smoke. Holler if you need me". Bryan had started to quit so many times, but each time something always happened and he kept on to manage the stress. He sat on the stool just outside of the back door and inhaled deeply, enjoying his nicotine fix. He stared up into the sky since there wasn't much around to look at. He loved how bright the stars were out here. In town the lights blocked a lot of them out. He flicked his butt and stood up to go back inside. As he grabbed the screen door handle, he thought he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. He turned expecting to see clouds on the horizon, thinking it was lightning. But there were none. He shrugged his shoulders and returned to the kitchen.

Angie was waiting for him when he returned. "I got an order here, make it quick will ya?" she told him. Bryan took the ticket and read the order. Cheeseburger with bacon, plain and a side of spicy fries. He put the fries into the deep frier and plopped a pattie down on the grill. He glanced over at the clock and saw it was 8:42. "A couple more hours" he thought to himself. He finished making the order and called for Angie to pick it up. When Angie came back, Bryan asked her "Hey, isn't it normally a lot busier in here than this"? "Yeah, kinda weird it's been so slow" she replied. Bryan decided to engage Angie in some conversation hoping to make the time fly by a little quicker.

He learned that Angie had been in college and was headed for a great career in Geology until she met Matt. She thought they were in love, until she got pregnant. Matt wouldn't have anything to do with her after that, so she came back home to raise her son. She really didn't have much use for men and spent her time teaching her son things that a father should have been teaching him. How to hunt, fish and make a shelter in the wilderness. Bryan admired her for what she was doing. His perception of her was completely different than what he had previously thought. He noticed there were only a couple customers left, and asked Angie if she wanted anything to eat. She was just about to tell him what she wanted when the lights went out.

Bryan immediately got a flashlight and went to the breaker box. No tripped breakers. He asked Angie if there were any candles, so they could get some light in the dining room. Angie searched but all she could find were birthday candles. "I got an oil lamp in the car" one of the customers said. "I'll go get it". When he returned, they lit the lamp and set it on the table in the middle of the dining room. "Wonder what's going on" Bryan said aloud. "No storms that I saw when I was outside earlier, and the sky still looks clear" he said as he looked out the front window. "I don't see the glow of the town either. Must be a big blackout". They had been sitting in the dining room for about thirty minutes, when the customer with the oil lamp told them he was heading out. He told them they could keep the lamp so they had light.

Bryan and Angie watched as the customer and his girlfriend went to their car to leave. They both got in, but the car never started. They sat in it for a short while, and then cam back into the restaurant. "Car's dead" he said. "No lights, radio, nothing at all. It's like the battery is completely drained. Weird thing is, I just had a new one put in last week before we left for vacation". Bryan decided to check his truck, and found the same problem. Angie's car was dead as well. "What the hell" Angie yelled. "How the hell can all the batteries be dead"? At that moment, Bryan felt his stomach sink. "Oh Jesus" he said. "I know what this is. We've had an EMP event. When I was out smoking earlier, I thought I saw a flash, you know like lightning. That must have been an EMP flash". he continued. "Damn, I bet we are under attack. Angie, check the pay phone and see if it is working". The pay phone was an old relic from the 70's. The owner had been too cheap to get a new one.

Angie dialed her sitters number, and amazingly it worked. "Rita, this is Angie. What the hell is going on?" she said. The other could only hear one side of the conversation, but they could tell that something was really upsetting her. When Angie hung up, she turned slowly to the others. "#, you're not going to believe this" she started. "You were right, Bryan. Everything electronic is out. NO radio, no TV, no cell phones and no computers. The only reason we got through to town is because our phone system is so old. Rita is going to bring Kaleb out here on her bike. They are kind of freaked out". The group stood there looking at each other, everyone wondering if this was a natural event, or man made. They decided to return to the diner and wait for Rita.

After what seemed like an eternity, Rita arrived with Kaleb. Angie ran to him and hugged him tightly, tears running down her cheeks. "Mom" Kaleb said, "I'm fine, geez". Angie smiled, and let loose of him wiping the tears from her face. She turned to Rita and asked "Any idea what is happening? Did you hear anything before it all went dead"? "Yes," Rita responded. "You might want to sit down for this one". Everyone sat down and looked at Rita with solemn eyes, waiting for the bad news they knew was coming. "Ok," Rita started, "So me and Kaleb was watching a movie on TNT when they broke in with the news. They said we were about to get hit with a massive solar flare, and that everyone should take immediate precautions because they didn't know what was going to happen. They were just staring to tell you what to do when everything went dead".

The group just at there for what seemed like forever, no one really knowing what to say. Bryan got up and started walking to the kitchen. "Alright then" he said, "If this is what happened then we need to get a game plan together. Our first order of business will be to see if we have water and also what non-perishable foods we have. The main thing is to keep our cool and not panic. We should have enough food to last a while until things get organized. I don't think we should go into town for a while, because I think that panic is going to set in and people will be violent". Angie told Bryan that the diner had a spring fed well, so they would have plenty of water. Bryan gathered everyone into the dining room.

"Ok," he said "Looks like we have enough food to last for a week or so, maybe longer if we stretch it. We need to figure out what to do for sleeping and security. I don't want anyone coming out here trying to steal from us". He learned that the customers who had been in the diner were Phil and Carrie. Phil was an electrical engineer, and Carrie was a nurse. They loved the outdoors and had been on a camping trip. "What kind of supplies do you have?" Bryan asked Phil. "Normal camping gear." he responded. "Couple sleeping bags, canteen, cook stove, you know. Oh, and a 30-06 rifle". They decided to bring in anything from the vehicles that might be of use, especially any firearms. Bryan had a .44 magnum pistol he kept in his car, along with a box of shells. Angie had a couple blankets she kept in the trunk, and brought those in as well. They setup some booths as makeshift beds and decided to turn the oil lamp out to conserve the fuel.

They talked about securing the diner, and decided to take shifts keeping a look out. With most of the group asleep, Angie, Phil and Bryan began talking about needing other supplies. "You know" Angie said, "We don't have much in the way of first aide. What if someone gets hurt? I think we need to sneak into town and see if we can get any supplies without being seen". They decided that Bryan and Angie would go to town since they knew the layout, and also so Phil could remain and guard the diner. It was about 2:00am when they left the diner for town.

The diner was about four miles outside of town, so they knew it would be a while before they got back. The plan was to be back before sunrise. They hiked for nearly an hour and a half when they came to the outskirts of town. "I think we should go around to the hill on the far side" Bryan said. "I don't want to make ourselves know just yet". Angie agreed and they circled around and peered above the top of the hill. Angie gasped at what she saw. Below in town were several military vehicles with soldiers escorting people to troop trucks. They were evacuating the town. "What the..." Angie whispered. They lay there watching until the last truck had left. They waited for another fifteen minutes to make sure there was no one around before heading down the hill.

They arrived at the drugstore, and went inside to get medical supplies. As they had walked through town they were unnerved by the silence. It was surreal to see the town so empty with no sound at all, not even a barking dog. They gathered up supplies, and decided to see what food they could carry from the grocery store. They were in the back of the store when they heard a loud bang from the back room. Startled, Bryan readied his pistol, and slowly entered the back room. He heard a door click, and figured it must be the door to the walk-in cooler. He slowly opened the door, and kept his pistol aimed. Inside he found two teenagers, a boy and a girl, apparently scared to death. "Don't shoot!" the boy yelled. "Shhh!!" Bryan responded. "I'm not going to shoot you, but you need to keep quiet. I don't know if there is anyone around or not. Any idea what happened here"?

They boy, Eric, explained that him and Lisa were in the cooler making out when he hear a lot of noise. They got scared and hid behind some boxes. They overheard men talking about gathering everyone up and getting them to camp. They were terrified and stayed in the cooler until they thought everyone was gone. That's when they had heard Bryan and Angie in the store. Bryan told them they were coming with them, and had them gather as much canned food as they could carry. He figured they didn't have much time before the military made it's way to the diner and gathered everyone out there up as well. They headed out of town and back to the diner jsut as the sun was beginning to break the horizon.

They arrived at the diner, and found everyone awake and very jittery. Bryan told them about what they had seen, and what the teens had told them. He told them they needed to find somewhere to hide, and pretty quick because he was sure the military would be back to look for stragglers. He told them they should put the diner back in order so there would be no indication they had been there. "I know where we can go" Phil said. "It's a bit of a hike, but I think we can make it. We should be safe for a while there". He told them of an old mine that was about seven miles to the south. The entrance was hidden on the side of a creek bed, and not many people knew about it. They gathered up their supplies and headed for the mine.

As they traveled to the mine, they tried to keep to low terrain in case vehicles were around searching. They talked about what they were going to do, and how long they thought they would be in hiding. They arrived at the mine entrance, and proceeded down the main shaft. they followed the tracks for what seemed like forever, and finally arrived at the main junction. At the junction, there was a supervisors shack and four more veins that spread out from the main shaft. Bryan decided to look around and see if there were any old supplies that might be of use. As he was checking the lockers on the wall, the last one he opened had what appeared to be a military radio. "Look!" he exclaimed. "Maybe we can get it to work. I read somewhere that if you were far enough underground, your electronics would be safe from an EMP. They opened the radio and saw that it took D cell batteries. Phil emptied his flashlight and put the batteries into the radio. Bryan cautiously turned it on. The radio worked. They could hear static. Bryan and Phil decided to go back to the entrance and see if they could get a signal. The others were to stay put and wait for them to return.

Angie was about to give up and go looking for Bryan and Phil when she heard their footsteps. "Well?" she asked. "Did you get anything"? Bryan and Phil sat down and she could tell by the look on their faces that it wasn't good. "We're alone" Bryan said. "You mean there's no one around?" Angie asked. "There's no one anywhere" he replied. "We picked up military talk, and it's bad. They have declared martial law, and rounded up all civilians into intern camps. They have lists of people who they have deemed as a threat and are executing them. We were also able to get communications on another band. There are other pockets of people like us that have found hiding places. It appears the worlds militaries have been planning this for quite some time. It is a coordinated effort world wide to control the population and instill an new world government". They all sat in silence, absorbing the news. "So what the hell are we supposed to do now?" Rita asked. "How are we going to survive? We can't live in caves, we don't have enough food or clothing or anything"! Bryan slapped Rita to stop her panic. "Calm down!" he told her. "We'll certainly not survive if we go off the deep end". We'll wait until later tonight and see if we can contact others out there to see if there is a plan.

As the days rolled into weeks, Bryan and Phil were able to keep up communications with other groups. he directed them to their hiding place, and it became apparent to him that this was going to be a new city, but underground. Unknowingly, he had made himself the leader, and felt responsible for those who stayed in the mine. He decided to call this home New Freedom in honor of the people who were determined to remain free. Only time would tell if they were strong enough and smart enough to survive. His fear would always be that if they were discovered, the military would exterminate them.

New Freedom would become a new staging ground for a revolution that would change the course of human history. Bryan and Phil would become legends for their roles in founding New Freedom. Their legacy would live on and see mankind once again free from tyranny and oppression. They would learn from their mistakes and form new governments that put human dignity and rights ahead of all. Man would survive, free and humble.

I really enjoyed this story, thanks! S&F for you!

While it is fiction, this is something that can happen at anytime, whether the EMP is from a solar flare or from a nuclear explosion.

reply to post by rydizz


Thanks for the feedback. I toyed with whether to use a solar flare or a nuke, and decided on the solar flare. I felt a nuke would have led to too much destruction to make a viable future.

Good story, really enjoyed it. S&F! I hope you write some more.

This story I thought was quite intersting. Do you really think that any government today would do such a thing? And also, do you have high beliefs that our rising population will have a huge effect on earth in a negative way?
What kind of government would this even be?

Quite a good story and well written thanks good read.

I also made a thread about if there would be a government organization that might be waiting for something like this to happen link here --> www.abovetopsecret.com... i put you as a link for making me have such great interest in this.

reply to post by KingUsbeorn


I think the current population levels will be a detriment to the earth unless we find a balance between our consumptions (food, fuel, electricity) and mother nature. The earth can only provide so much before it runs out. Oil takes millions of years to produce, and once it's gone, it's gone. Nuclear power, I feel, will eventually rear it's head and show the pitfalls of such endeavors. We cannot continue as we have and expect to survive another century, it simply isn't feasible.

I think our Indian ancestors truly had it right, as did other cultures and indigenous tribes around the world. We have to live in harmony with the earth, and our fellow man if we are to survive. The idea of countries and money have got to go. We are all a part of the human species, and as such we should know better than to try and keep separate countries based on religious or political ideals. If we are to survive, as my story illustrates, then free markets, worldwide, will be the only way to accomplish this. If there are no borders, and no money, then what is there to fight over? Ban organized religion as it is practiced today, and let each person be free to practice or not what they wish. No special privileges for "churches". No Vatican, no pope no way for religion to keep a strangle hold on the population. This is the only way we would survive.

Man used to live this way. Wars were only fought over valuable land for food, or food reserves. It is the responsibility of the individual to work towards the benefit of the whole. The Cherokee believed in this, as did many tribes of the world. Everyone worked to keep the tribe protected, fed and housed. All food was community property. The community raised the children. If you hurt one, you hurt all. If you committed a crime, you were banished from the tribe to fend for yourself. When we wise up and return to our roots, that is when we will begin to evolve once again. I fear our current world governments will usher in this return, it will not be by choice.

I agree with most things you have said. This remedy for world peace you put forth is quite a ways away and you make it out as a utopia world. Now, why banish money from the system? Would you still have some sort of commerce or small trades? I think us humans may be more reckless if we didn't have some rule(s)? I relize organized religion can manipulate a mass population and I know they can obtain a very vast amount of power but do you not think there should be a place that should at least keep the religion in tact and just? To keep it preserved and rightly documented? Would some sort of communism arrise to contain power?- ty.

reply to post by KingUsbeorn


Well, I don't think communism is the answer, no. As for religion, I think it has it's place, and is needed to keep some semblance of order. However, as it exists now, trying to run peoples lives and dictating morality is just wrong. I think religion should be more of a guideline for how to live peaceably, and not for controlling your life. Money? No, as long as there is something that society views as having value, there will always be corruption and the few who seek to control all of it. I think this is the crux of most wars that have been fought. It's all about the money, either directly or indirectly. If you base a society on trade, then you remove that corruptible element and allow man to flourish as he should.

You can call it one world government, but not in the sense that we view it today. Think of Indian tribes. While there were Indian nations, there were no real borders. They traded and existed together. Wars were generally for survival, and not for accumulating wealth or ownership of the other tribe to increase their nations size. So in that context, man should be free to move about the world as he sees fit. With the monetary and religious elements removed, what reason would there be for war? Need food? Then trade for it. Need clothing? Trade for it.

Who decided that gold was worth value? After all it is simply a metal that comes from the ground. Someone in our past decided that the shiny metal was valuable, and thus created the problems that have haunted man ever since. For me, if I had the money, I would create a free society somewhere to put into practice these views I have. While it is nice to have the things we do have, cars, TV, computers, they are not essential to our survival. If we were to go back to an agricultural based society and quit trying to accumulate toys, then I think we would be able to have these types of communities. All that is required to live is food, shelter and clothing. Everything else is fluff. Look at the Amazonian tribes, and the indigenous people of New Zealand. They do that to this day.

I think money is our trade. I also think we are doing just fine surviving as it is. If we were to give up this money we would be giving up alot of things like medical advances, recreational stuff like books, bicycles, video games, things that basically let us connect today. I think your civilization would end up being more barbaric then anything. You did say that we would war just for "survival" I think having currency is better to have then to trade things because we can do more then just survive. We can live. And I know that most of us will want to keep it for power and wealth but we fund organizations out there to help our poor and sick to help them back up.